DVD Duplication - Reducing the Environmental Cost of Your Disc Production

The inherent environmental costs of production of DVDs and CDs is something that most people commissioning or DVD duplication or DVD replication may be aware of, but the full extent of this is often not recognized. It is clear that a DVD is made of plastic (polycarbonate to be exact) and that this should have some impact on the environment. Besides these, DVDs have a reflective aluminum layer sputtered on the polycarbonate surface. A DVDR disc also has an added layer of organic dye (recording layer). Organic in this context does not sound - it refers to the branch of chemistry that deals with this dangerous hydro carbon! The process of printing (or decorating) the disk is one that arguably has the greatest potential for the environment. Whether DVDR duplication or DVD replication, the disk requires some press so it can be identified (and look good too!). The printing options are varied, but the most common for large volume runs, have a silkscreen (sometimes referred to as screen printing) and litho printing (more correctly referred to as compensation). Both processes lead to a large amount of waste and the flushing and removal of environmentally harmful chemicals. Screen and offset start exposing the work of film (with the use of toxic chemicals and plastics) and the making of screens or plates. Screens should be washed after use, resulting in more chemicals are washed away. Furthermore screen and offset inks are inherently toxic and cause more hazardous waste to be dumped into the environment. Final before the job can be printed, the printer made in unwinding, mostly 50 or 100 DVDs to print before the print is satisfactory. In stark contrast to this, the latest generation of digital printers require no plates, screens or movies and no dangerous chemicals in the setup process. A DVD duplication job can be printed directly from the digital image with no setup. Although it is possible to print DVD replicated these is most suitable for the on-demand, low volume run size DVD duplication. The machine prints the first drive exactly the same as any subsequent discs that there are no wasted two discs. If your next DVD production could benefit from lower environmental costs, and faster turnaround, not to mention the highest print quality 4 colors available you need look no further than digital printing. If you want your DVD duplication project to look just as good or better than a replicated DVD found in the shops this is the best option.